The United States of the Third World

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As I sit down to write my weekly column, I can't help but feel that I'm actually living
President Bush's mantra by "doing a job that Americans won't do"  in my case, it's writing a
column for free. One thing you can be sure of, no illegal immigrants will be taking my job 
they're too busy actually making money someplace. They may be illegal, but they ain't stupid.
Mexico president, Vicente Fox is here in the United States this week paying a visit to his
citizens  10% of them, anyway. That's right; did you know that 10% of all Mexican citizens
are now living in the United States? As JWR columnist Mark Steyn has so aptly put
it, "Mexico is now nation-building in America." Steyn also points out the fact that Mexican
illegal immigrants working in the U.S. send so much money back home to their families that
these "remittances" now outrank tourism and oil as Mexico's biggest source of foreign income.
This is a gravy train that you can bet Presidente Fox doesn't want to stop anytime soon!

Because this is such a valuable source of income for our neighbor to the south, and
because so many American industries, like hospitality, restaurant, construction, food
processing, production plants and agriculture depend on these workers, and because Republicans
want to keep these industries happy by supplying them with low paying labor, and because
Democrats want the potential new voters and unions want the potential new members; for all
these reasons and more, the flood of third world immigrants will never, ever be stopped. I'm
convinced of it.

In the past I've written of the drain to our schools, hospitals, and social programs
caused by illegal immigrants and the security concerns we face with our porous borders. I've
mentioned the drug smuggling, the gangsters and other undesirables that easily travel back and
forth across the border. But there is something that worries me far more than all of that
concerning the millions of undocumented people that continue to pour into America  something
that ultimately will have a more devastating effect on this country in the long-term. I'm
referring to the dissolution of traditional American culture.

Our culture is in jeopardy because immigrants to America are not assimilating into
society like they once did. My grandparents came here to be Americans, to bring up their
children with American ideals and American values. It wasn't easy, but they went to night
school to learn English. They dressed American. They listened to American radio stations in
English, watched American television, and attended American movies. They embraced American
music, ate American food, and learned American history.

Lack of assimilation is not purely the fault of the immigrant; much of the blame is with
our politically correct multiculturalism, which has been taught throughout our public schools
and universities for about three decades. The teaching of traditional American history is, at
worst totally revisionist, at best given short shrift. In its place, the focus is now on
minorities and looking at history through the prism of our contemporary views on race, women's
rights and other hot button topics. The celebration of multiculturalism is laced through almost
all subjects in our public schools … well, maybe not algebra, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Our society today makes accommodations which, if anything, discourage assimilation.
Voting ballots printed in a dozen different languages, ATMs and payphones with instructions in
Spanish, bilingual packaging on consumer goods, and billboards all over town in one language 
Spanish  all say to the immigrant, "Hey, it's okay, you don't have to speak English here."

Slowly but surely, our nation is dividing itself up by ethnic groups. We are being
directed by media, academia and social elites to no longer think of ourselves first as
Americans, but by whatever group or nation we (or our ancestors) came from. And guess what?
Dividing up a country into tribal parts is not the best way to assure cohesion and harmony in a
nation. Take a look at Bosnia, the Middle East, and Rwanda. Hell, just look northward to
Canada.

There are those who welcome this change in America. Those who think that it's about
time that the United States begins to take on a mixing of cultures, not unlike our friends in
Europe. One look at what separatist Muslim immigrants have done to the societies of Belgium,
the Netherlands, France or England should be a wake up call to the rest of us who still
remember and cherish what being an American was all about.

American culture. If you don't know what that means, just look at some of the classic
movies from around the middle of the last century to find out what it was all about. Personal
best, Yankee ingenuity, love of G-d, helping your fellow man, rising above your station,
reaching for the stars, working hard, making good, falling in love, having kids, buying a
house, men defending the honor of women and women wanting their honors defended. And, yes,
fighting and maybe even dying for your country. Apple pie, baseball and mom. It's sappy, but
it's so damn good.

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All the wonderful American culture will soon be gone. The stuff that made America
"America" is really on the way out. Thanks to political correctness, multiculturalism, leftist
universities with professors that truly hate western values, and our terrible immigration
practices, I'm afraid the America that the good old movies portrayed will be gone forever.

My generation was lucky enough to have at least seen the tail end of it. Anyone under
the age of about 35 has never experienced what America was. Our wonderful country will soon be
just another version of what most of Europe has become. That's the first step. From there it
will eventually turn into just another third world culture. Very sad. But it can't be
stopped.

All we can do is try to live what time we have left on earth by dressing, acting, and
supporting everything that is and was the American culture that we knew. Keep your faith, be a
decent person, listen to great music, go to places that play it, go see good movies, wear
non-sloppy, clean-looking adult clothes, and live by those traditional American values. Put
them to use in everyday life. In short, conduct yourself as if it is still the America of the
middle 20th century, and try to ignore the contemporary crap. You may not change the tide, but
who knows … maybe you will. At the very least, you'll feel good about yourself and others will
take notice.

JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a
letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.